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[Bug 1328632] [NEW] whole system can unrecoverably stall just because of a single misbehaving program that eats up too much memory (causing trashing)

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Public bug reported:

If a single program starts misbehaving (because of an error) and
suddenly eating up a lot of memory, the whole system becomes
unresponsive and you won't even be able to open a terminal, or switch to
a virtual terminal (ctrl+alt+f1) and kill the offending process.

It's absolutely unacceptable that the whole system can so easily stall into an unrecoverable state where the only option is a hardware shut down, just because of ONE misbehaving process (no matter whether faulty or malicious). You easily find yourself in this ridiculous and enraging situation:
- you perfectly know what program is eating up all memory and hogging the system (or you have just a couple of candidates and could easily figure out by running "top")
- you perfectly know what to do to restore normal behavior: open a terminal, ps to find out the process id, and kill it. 3 easy steps
- you can't do any of that because the system won't even respond to keystrokes and mouse clicks. Not even ctrl+alt+f1 to switch to virtual terminal works. You have no chance to run any command.

The system should stop allocating the memory that process asks, or at least always keep in physical memory the essential processes that are needed to do the necessary tasks rescue the system from such a situation: open a terminal (or at least switch to a virtual console) and run commands.
Also, responsiveness to mouse and keyboard should ALWAYS have the topmost priority, no matter what cpu-intensive or i/o-intensive task is being performed.

An operating system that becomes unworkable just because of one single
program's fault, is simply failing to do its most basic job.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: linux-image-3.13.0-29-generic 3.13.0-29.53
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-29.53-generic 3.13.11.2
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-29-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  teo        2155 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Tue Jun 10 19:55:17 2014
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ff7e702a-a05a-47fd-8c14-551e81f9e9e3
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-11 (242 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MachineType: Acer Aspire V3-571G
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=5830b30e-69e8-4bb4-8a2b-bc2b43c7414a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-29-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-29-generic  N/A
 linux-firmware                             1.127.2
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-05-24 (17 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 10/15/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
dmi.bios.version: V2.07
dmi.board.asset.tag: Type2 - Board Asset Tag
dmi.board.name: VA50_HC_CR
dmi.board.vendor: Acer
dmi.board.version: Type2 - Board Version
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
dmi.chassis.version: V2.07
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV2.07:bd10/15/2012:svnAcer:pnAspireV3-571G:pvrV2.07:rvnAcer:rnVA50_HC_CR:rvrType2-BoardVersion:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrV2.07:
dmi.product.name: Aspire V3-571G
dmi.product.version: V2.07
dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug trusty

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1328632

Title:
  whole system can unrecoverably stall just because of a single
  misbehaving program that eats up too much memory (causing trashing)

Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  If a single program starts misbehaving (because of an error) and
  suddenly eating up a lot of memory, the whole system becomes
  unresponsive and you won't even be able to open a terminal, or switch
  to a virtual terminal (ctrl+alt+f1) and kill the offending process.

  It's absolutely unacceptable that the whole system can so easily stall into an unrecoverable state where the only option is a hardware shut down, just because of ONE misbehaving process (no matter whether faulty or malicious). You easily find yourself in this ridiculous and enraging situation:
  - you perfectly know what program is eating up all memory and hogging the system (or you have just a couple of candidates and could easily figure out by running "top")
  - you perfectly know what to do to restore normal behavior: open a terminal, ps to find out the process id, and kill it. 3 easy steps
  - you can't do any of that because the system won't even respond to keystrokes and mouse clicks. Not even ctrl+alt+f1 to switch to virtual terminal works. You have no chance to run any command.

  The system should stop allocating the memory that process asks, or at least always keep in physical memory the essential processes that are needed to do the necessary tasks rescue the system from such a situation: open a terminal (or at least switch to a virtual console) and run commands.
  Also, responsiveness to mouse and keyboard should ALWAYS have the topmost priority, no matter what cpu-intensive or i/o-intensive task is being performed.

  An operating system that becomes unworkable just because of one single
  program's fault, is simply failing to do its most basic job.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
  Package: linux-image-3.13.0-29-generic 3.13.0-29.53
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-29.53-generic 3.13.11.2
  Uname: Linux 3.13.0-29-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
  Architecture: amd64
  AudioDevicesInUse:
   USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
   /dev/snd/controlC0:  teo        2155 F.... pulseaudio
  CurrentDesktop: Unity
  Date: Tue Jun 10 19:55:17 2014
  HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ff7e702a-a05a-47fd-8c14-551e81f9e9e3
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-11 (242 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
  MachineType: Acer Aspire V3-571G
  ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-29-generic.efi.signed root=UUID=5830b30e-69e8-4bb4-8a2b-bc2b43c7414a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
  RelatedPackageVersions:
   linux-restricted-modules-3.13.0-29-generic N/A
   linux-backports-modules-3.13.0-29-generic  N/A
   linux-firmware                             1.127.2
  SourcePackage: linux
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-05-24 (17 days ago)
  dmi.bios.date: 10/15/2012
  dmi.bios.vendor: Acer
  dmi.bios.version: V2.07
  dmi.board.asset.tag: Type2 - Board Asset Tag
  dmi.board.name: VA50_HC_CR
  dmi.board.vendor: Acer
  dmi.board.version: Type2 - Board Version
  dmi.chassis.type: 10
  dmi.chassis.vendor: Acer
  dmi.chassis.version: V2.07
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAcer:bvrV2.07:bd10/15/2012:svnAcer:pnAspireV3-571G:pvrV2.07:rvnAcer:rnVA50_HC_CR:rvrType2-BoardVersion:cvnAcer:ct10:cvrV2.07:
  dmi.product.name: Aspire V3-571G
  dmi.product.version: V2.07
  dmi.sys.vendor: Acer

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